America's Unique Deaf Stories; Established 1996; 23rd year

Category Archives: Mid-Week

A deaf actor said it is very difficult toget roles only for the reason no one writesin these deaf roles in their productions.Also, very difficult to communicate withfellow actors and directors during rehearsalsand filming productions. They have neverworked with a deaf actor before andare afraid to do so.

— bad quality captioning software

Many agencies use captioning software knowingthat quality is bad. They try to save money,saying their captions comply with ADA rules,regardless of quality with it. A big shame!

— anti-deaf customer

A hearing customer went to a coffee cafe and was angryto see deaf people being employed, brewing andserving coffee. The angry customer confronted theowner, promising never to buy coffee again fromhis cafe. A facebook page showed the postingof the anti-deaf customer. It did not takeplace in USA but in the Philippines!

The Rocky Mountain ADA Center said there was nointerpreter on weather emergency news duringlast week’s Bomb Cyclone weather that hitColorado Springs hard. What was the excuse?The director of the Pikes Peak Regional Officeof Emergency Management said no time toget an interpreter – plus – too dangerous tobring the interpreter to the TV studio.The ADA center said excuse is not valid.

— an important job not heavily in demand

An important job that not too many businessesand agencies hire is ADA/disability rights specialist.This may be the reason for so many ADA lawsuits!

— can talk but prefer notes

At a museuem in Georgia, there was a deafnesstheme and a late-deafened artist created a programthat emphasized communications through notesinstead of voice. This purzled DeafDigest becausethe artist became deaf because of a childhoodaccident, yet was still able to continue with hisspeech skills. If a deaf person still can speak, sowhy ask for note-taking communications?

NASA does not know its own deaf history. It continuesto say they have its first deaf engineer in Johanna Lucht.NASA has had deaf engineers in the past – Richard Dawes,graduate of Florida School for the Deaf and Blind andalso of University of Florida. The other deaf engineerwas Thomas Wheeler, who attended Alabama School forthe Deaf and Blind and also of University of Alabama.There may have been several more others in the past!

The newspaper story today said:

Johanna Lucht, the first NASA engineer who is deaf

First? NASA does not do its own deaf homework

— fake-deaf in trouble in South Korea

The The Military Manpower Administration ofSouth Korea is angry. This agency caughteight hearing men of faking their deafnessto avoid serving military service!

— Crazy Clowns in Germany

Clowns are supposed to make people laugh.But a group of street clowns in Gelsenkirchen,a town in northern Germany, is not somethingfunny. They attacked a deaf person who waswalking in downtown. There was no reason forthis attack. They ran away, but just hope thepolice will find them and bring them to justice.

In a Forbes magazine article, the issue discussedwas – what is the best? Hearing people decidingwhat is the best – better kitchen stuff, betterapps, better ATMs, etc? These great productsare not deaf-friendly and therefore, not reallythe best!

— Starbucks and the deaf

Starbucks just announced the opening of its30,000th store in the world. It also saidit was proud of its first deaf-friendlystore in Washington, DC, within walkingdistance of Gallaudet University. Is Starbucksplanning to open a second deaf-friendlystore in Rochester, NY, within walking distanceof NTID?

— a request hard to believe

A video stream producer posted this request ona web site, looking for a volunteer captioner.Very hard to believe that it was posted. Captioninga video is not an easy task. No one wants to volunteerfor difficult tasks, captioning included.

DeafDigest editor met a deaf person who ownsa property management company, and operatesit on a full time 24/7 basis. Been in thatbusiness for years, providing the familywith comfortable income. If someone saysa deaf person cannot own a propertymanagement company, then that person is wrong!

— the CI and the deaf community leader

A leader of a deaf community decided to go for aCI as he felt it would help him to hear better.As a result, he was ostracized by the deaf communitydespite his popularity and his effectiveness asa leader. What happened? It created a copycat“me, too” CI’s among others in the DeafCommunity. And slowly, the leader won back hispopularity and respect!

— Elvis Presley required a 3-way interpreting

World famous rocker Elvis Presley died in 1977.There was a story of an Elvis Presley requiringa three-way interpreting in a court session,something to do with him getting into a fightat a shop. He seemed to be deaf but functionedas a hearing person, yet still requiring3-way interpreting. It was not the legendaryElvis but a young Irishman with the same name.The judge ordered the case to go to trial.

For some reason the Nicaraguan non-Sign Language hasfascinated sign language linguists over the years.It first attracted notice in the late eighties andthen from time to time since then. Non-Sign Language?The deaf people of Nicaragua communicate via bodylanguage and gestures since there was no officialNicaraguan Sign Language at that time.

— hearing then deaf then hearing then deaf

Hawkeye, in the comic books, started as a hearingcharacter, but over the years the cartoonist madehim deaf, then again hearing and then again deaf.Fantasy? Yes. Realistic? No.

— shop talk sometimes hard for deaf to follow

When hearing people discuss work issues at a placeof employment, their language shifts towardsshop abbreviations and shop lingo with shop talkthrown in. Even with interpreters it can be difficultfor the deaf to follow – nothing to do with lack ofknowledge but much to do with not seeing these wordscome up every day, all the time!

we have too many “inventors” claiming to be thefirst to “invent” these sign language machines.An article in the Smithsonian Magazine questionedthe usefulness of these (many) sign languagemachines. The magazine is correct.

— a weakness in FCC’s captioning law

The FCC requires captioned videos on-lineonly if that original program was alreadycaptioned on TV. The loophole is videosthat were never shown in TV. Becauseof lawsuits targeting that loophole,the FCC may (or may not) require thesenon-TV videos to be captioned. Confusing?Yes, and this is why we have attorneysfighting each other in the courts.

— to laugh or to cry at a doctor’s office

DeafDigest editor went to a doctor’s officeto pick up a patient. The receptionist knewthe editor was deaf and told him to go tothe waiting room to wait for the patient.A different employee shouted out a name.No response. She again shouted out thisname and again, no response. The editorsaw it all but assumed it was for adifferent patient. The receptionistthen realized what was happening andcame over to him to go and pick upthat patient. A minor issue, yes, butto laugh or to cry?

Coda stands for Child of Deaf Adults. This abbreviationhas become a word over the years. In a newspaper story,a Coda explained his nightmare – comments from friendssuch as dummy, how can you speak if your parents sign,do you interpret all tne time, do you always make noiseat home, and so on. Many codas deal with it; manydon’t.

— big publicity for nothing

British Airways announced that they were doing acommercial involving deaf 12-year old femaletwins. The British deaf community was excitedabout it. The commercial taping only took20 minutes. But when the commercial aired onTV, the twins were missing, thus disappointingthe TV viewers. This is how it works in theindustry – that not everything that gets tapedgets shown!

— deaf food stand owner and impatient customers

There are deaf owners of food stands. They createspecial menus where hearing customers could justpoint to the dishes they want. Very helpful?Not always! One deaf chef said there are alwayssome impatient customers that just want tovoice out their orders instead of pointing todishes on the menu. It is a big shame.

Tamika Catchings, who is deaf, but functions as a hearing
person, was promoted to her new position as the Vice
President of Indiana Fever, a women’s pro basketball team in
WNBA. She is charge of all basketball operations.
Her goal is to become the General Manager of a team in
the NBA. Never say impossible.

— interpreter following deaf chef in kitchen!

A newspaper story said that a deaf chef in a kitchen
is always followed by an interpreter! A newspaper
story said that a deaf chef Saima Shafaatulla,
has an interpreter always with her in the kitchen
of the Grand Central Hotel, Glascow, Scotland.
Hard to believe. An interpreter at kitchen staff
meetings, yes, but during hectic kitchen moments
where everyone is yelling and there are always
kitchen mistakes.

— major travel agency makes deaf needs a priority

A travel agency has required all of its coffee cafes
to make everything deaf-accessible. This means
pad and pen always available for deaf travelers.
Also computerized table touch pads for them.
It is So-Coffee, operated by the agency
based in Poland! Why not American agencies?
We have ADA.

Deaf author Ilya Kaminsky has written a bookon a series of poems about a fictional deaf town“Vasenka.” Those that have read “Islay” byDoug Bullard years back, may enjoy this book.

— unexpected problem with employer that hires the deaf

There is a big problem with an employer that hires thedeaf. He can only hire just a few deaf applicants, butis overwhelmed with too, too many deaf applicants.They get angry when they apply and don’t get the joband accuse the employer of discriminating against the deaf!

— duties of an audiologist

What does an audiologist do? He diagnoses hearingissues and problems and tries to fix them. Well,a newspaper story said:

a doctor that develops hearing aid technology

Hearing aid technology as in developing betterhearing aids!

DeafDigest does not know what to make of thesetwo completely different job descriptions forthe same job – audiologist.